| Ashes 2023 16:47 - Jun 8 with 90094 views | Hoopstar |
Ah the home Ashes series is almost upon us, my personal favourite sporting event (not down under, that's just generally depressing.) I need something big sporting wise to focus on and quit my worrying about QPR for a while.
Anyone going?
I was at the first day of the World Test Championship at the Oval yesterday. The Aussies looked in depressingly good nick with the bat and their pace attack appears as terrifying as ever.
I think it's going to be an exciting, tough, tense series that'll go down to the wire. I only managed to get tickets to the very final day of the Ashes on 31st July at the Oval, you never know.
I predict...
Crawley to average less than 20 with Duckett getting closer to mid 30s
Brook to really secure his position as an outstanding talent and mainstay of the team
Pope to struggle again~
Root, in what could be his last home Ashes, proving his worth again
Bairstow - haven't a clue which version turns up post broken foot
Broad - an Ashes too far? You'd be mad to write him or Jimmy off.
Robinson to nab Smith at least four times..
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| Ashes 2023 on 02:56 - Jul 18 with 2212 views | SydneyRs |
| Ashes 2023 on 20:56 - Jul 17 by stowmarketrange |
I agree mate.I made the mistake of looking at the messages on the Sydney herald website and some of them weren’t very friendly or sensible at all.
It would’ve been interesting if Starc’s catch was the deciding factor in the 2nd test and we had won that test.Luckily it didn’t matter in the end. |
I think in general the English cricket support goes with good natured banter when it comes to the Aussies, particularly the barmy army who, while always wanting England to win, will respect the opposition. There certainly isn't usually the bitterness that often comes the other way. The chants to Steve Smith etc are typical football style stuff.
Obviously things got a bit silly at Lord's of all places, but that was a reaction to what I viewed as very unsportsmanlike behaviour but also typical of their win at all costs attitude. Within the rules, but a bit dodgy. Now they're doubling down on it, but what else are they going to do/say while the series is still on? I suspect you'll hear more honest opinions from some after they retire.
The media here revelled in that Lord's stuff, but I guarantee they'd see it differently if it had been done against them. Its not that long ago they were running news articles about someone doing a mankad dismissal in a game overseas not even involving Australia and questioning the spirit of it. Hypocrites.
There's a nasty undercurrent to some of the support here when it comes to England especially. Large parts of the media appear to be still stuck in the 1970s and this "smash the poms" attitude based on a notion that Australia are the battlers looked down upon by the English. Laughable these days given the funding they have. Yet most people you meet here are nothing like this. I've been at a few cricket games here and there's definitely an element of racism among a section of their support, and not just with England. Some of the comments I heard during games v Pakistan and West Indies were very revealing.
Even my in laws, who are the loveliest people, go silent and a bit sulky on the matter if England are beating Australia. A product of the constant anti English sentiment that is peddled in relation to the sport which would have been worse when they were young. It is easing up slowly as the country has become much more multicultural and the old "white Australia" attitudes that my wife says were still prominent when she was a kid become less and less relevant. There was a fair bit of unrest about Usman Khawaja, a muslim, among some of their support when he was first in the team as a young player and he's spoken about the racism he's encountered in the game here. I know England have had some of their own issues with this too.
I've lived here over 20 years now and the media childishness and obsession with England in particular has largely put me off the Ashes. Just boring seeing the same old nonsense every time. There is more to life than winning at sport, especially a sport where there's no consequence for losing. You just rock up every two years and have another go no matter how many times you get beaten. England did it for nearly 20 years up to 2005.
I never attended a cricket game until I lived here. Living in England I wasn't interested other than it was something that was on between football seasons, along with tennis. I've long since stopped reading comments about it on news sites here. The sooner some of those old attitudes die off, the better. |  | | |
| Ashes 2023 on 03:59 - Jul 18 with 2173 views | Hooparoo |
| Ashes 2023 on 02:56 - Jul 18 by SydneyRs |
I think in general the English cricket support goes with good natured banter when it comes to the Aussies, particularly the barmy army who, while always wanting England to win, will respect the opposition. There certainly isn't usually the bitterness that often comes the other way. The chants to Steve Smith etc are typical football style stuff.
Obviously things got a bit silly at Lord's of all places, but that was a reaction to what I viewed as very unsportsmanlike behaviour but also typical of their win at all costs attitude. Within the rules, but a bit dodgy. Now they're doubling down on it, but what else are they going to do/say while the series is still on? I suspect you'll hear more honest opinions from some after they retire.
The media here revelled in that Lord's stuff, but I guarantee they'd see it differently if it had been done against them. Its not that long ago they were running news articles about someone doing a mankad dismissal in a game overseas not even involving Australia and questioning the spirit of it. Hypocrites.
There's a nasty undercurrent to some of the support here when it comes to England especially. Large parts of the media appear to be still stuck in the 1970s and this "smash the poms" attitude based on a notion that Australia are the battlers looked down upon by the English. Laughable these days given the funding they have. Yet most people you meet here are nothing like this. I've been at a few cricket games here and there's definitely an element of racism among a section of their support, and not just with England. Some of the comments I heard during games v Pakistan and West Indies were very revealing.
Even my in laws, who are the loveliest people, go silent and a bit sulky on the matter if England are beating Australia. A product of the constant anti English sentiment that is peddled in relation to the sport which would have been worse when they were young. It is easing up slowly as the country has become much more multicultural and the old "white Australia" attitudes that my wife says were still prominent when she was a kid become less and less relevant. There was a fair bit of unrest about Usman Khawaja, a muslim, among some of their support when he was first in the team as a young player and he's spoken about the racism he's encountered in the game here. I know England have had some of their own issues with this too.
I've lived here over 20 years now and the media childishness and obsession with England in particular has largely put me off the Ashes. Just boring seeing the same old nonsense every time. There is more to life than winning at sport, especially a sport where there's no consequence for losing. You just rock up every two years and have another go no matter how many times you get beaten. England did it for nearly 20 years up to 2005.
I never attended a cricket game until I lived here. Living in England I wasn't interested other than it was something that was on between football seasons, along with tennis. I've long since stopped reading comments about it on news sites here. The sooner some of those old attitudes die off, the better. |
Good post mate and you make some interesting observations. For what it's worth I think both sides are guilty of making unnecessary insults and stupid comments and we all need to calm down a bit.
For the record, Aussies don't appreciate constantly being called "fcking convicts" which happened to me earlier in this very thread. The irony here is that the main nationality of the original convicts that settled Australia was of course English and you didn't come here to get a tan, you came here because England's prisons were overflowing. Here's something a lot of English people don't know - around 30% of the convicts that came to this country were Irish political prisoners who were sent to the other side of the world for the heinous crime of objecting to the rape, pillage and starvation inflicted on them by the British crown. Do they or their descendants deserve to be labeled as criminals?
There's idiots in every country and God knows we have our fair share for sure. We need to remember what unites us not divides us and most Aussies are grateful for the great things that we gained by being a commonwealth country - Westminster democracy, the rule of law and an independent judiciary and civil service to name just a few. It's no coincidence that most of the stable democracies in the world are the English speaking ones and I am proud to say that I'm a 7th generation descendant of a scared 17 year old Englishman from Stratford who was convicted and sent here for a term of 7 years for stealing a pair of trousers.
As I say to some of my mates who get all fired up and stupid about sport "It's only a bloody game for God's sake"
I hope I get to buy you a beer one day at an Aussie Rs knees up and I look forward to having some football to discuss instead of this spiteful Ashes series.
Cheers, Stu  [Post edited 18 Jul 2023 4:01]
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| Ashes 2023 on 04:27 - Jul 18 with 2161 views | BrisbaneR |
One of the things I noticed that was different when I arrived here was that just how widespread the interest was in cricket.
Growing up in London it was football...and everything else a distant second. Cricket was a sport for the posh boys as far as I knew, l knew literally no one who played or was interested (I know that isn't the case necessarily in the north of England).
When I got here one day cricket hooked me first with its flashy, primetime presentation and then I learned about and fell for Tests.
It is noticeable that pom bashing is still an acceptable form of racism here, but we give as good as we get, and it is generally good spirited. The latest round of noise is all part of the ongoing pantomime. | | | |
| Ashes 2023 on 09:58 - Jul 18 with 2066 views | SydneyRs |
| Ashes 2023 on 04:27 - Jul 18 by BrisbaneR |
One of the things I noticed that was different when I arrived here was that just how widespread the interest was in cricket.
Growing up in London it was football...and everything else a distant second. Cricket was a sport for the posh boys as far as I knew, l knew literally no one who played or was interested (I know that isn't the case necessarily in the north of England).
When I got here one day cricket hooked me first with its flashy, primetime presentation and then I learned about and fell for Tests.
It is noticeable that pom bashing is still an acceptable form of racism here, but we give as good as we get, and it is generally good spirited. The latest round of noise is all part of the ongoing pantomime. |
Very true and my experience also. When I first came here backpacking almost every Aussie you would meet would be "how about the cricket?" when I really had no interest having grown up in London obsessed with football and always seeing cricket as an elitist sport. Nobody played it at school apart from a handful of kids that were in cricket clubs. Never set foot in a cricket ground until I came to live here permanently even though Lord's and the Oval with all their history were in the city I lived in.
Here its very different. During summer its the only popular sport on here (apart from two weeks when people pretend to care about tennis because there's not much else to do in the school summer holidays!) and everyone seems interested to some degree. Far more broadly popular.
I too used to watch a lot of those one day games that seemed to be on almost every night in January when I first lived here. But the novelty wore off and with endless choices of what to watch these days I rarely see any of it and have no patience for the ridiculously long ad breaks on commercial TV channels. [Post edited 18 Jul 2023 11:49]
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| Ashes 2023 on 11:38 - Jul 18 with 1985 views | robith |
Khawaja is a player I have immense respect for, but that latest piece by him is a bit weak imo. Complaining about the crowd calling Head a c bomb, when Head was stood there conducting them and revelling it is a bit strange.
Something slightly off about this current Aussie team seemingly wanting everyone to sit in silence and adore them. They were so rattled by the reaction they got at Lords, in a way I couldn't help but think how the 2001-2007 side would've been loving it and would never have let England get as close as they did |  | | |
| Ashes 2023 on 11:51 - Jul 18 with 1957 views | SydneyRs |
| Ashes 2023 on 11:38 - Jul 18 by robith |
Khawaja is a player I have immense respect for, but that latest piece by him is a bit weak imo. Complaining about the crowd calling Head a c bomb, when Head was stood there conducting them and revelling it is a bit strange.
Something slightly off about this current Aussie team seemingly wanting everyone to sit in silence and adore them. They were so rattled by the reaction they got at Lords, in a way I couldn't help but think how the 2001-2007 side would've been loving it and would never have let England get as close as they did |
They're a good side, but not as good as they seem to think and nowhere near the class of that early 2000s team. | | | |
| Ashes 2023 on 12:31 - Jul 18 with 1912 views | Hoopstar |
I was always playing cricket growing up in NE London I the 90s. Dad was a big fan and most of my mates I grew up with on my street were from Pakistani or Tamil families and so completely nuts for it. We played for local clubs like Brondesbury and South Hampstead but me and my mate Haider were the only state school kids really involved and getting a game.We both gave up around 15 as there was so much classism and, in Haiders case, racism to deal with. Even at 15 Haider had arms the size of a track sprint cyclists thighs so that was an interesting approach.
Living down in Sussex now and cricket is very much the main sport - its just absolutely mad for it. We've got 5 Saturday XIs, a Sunday XI and 300+ kids in our oversubscribed juniors section in our little town alone. | | | |
| Ashes 2023 on 13:15 - Jul 18 with 1862 views | Rs_Holy |
looking at the forecast I reckon we will have to beat the Aussies in 3 days :( [Post edited 18 Jul 2023 13:18]
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| Ashes 2023 on 13:30 - Jul 18 with 1826 views | TheChef |
| Ashes 2023 on 11:38 - Jul 18 by robith |
Khawaja is a player I have immense respect for, but that latest piece by him is a bit weak imo. Complaining about the crowd calling Head a c bomb, when Head was stood there conducting them and revelling it is a bit strange.
Something slightly off about this current Aussie team seemingly wanting everyone to sit in silence and adore them. They were so rattled by the reaction they got at Lords, in a way I couldn't help but think how the 2001-2007 side would've been loving it and would never have let England get as close as they did |
Especially since the home crowds in Oz are so polite and respectful...
Although do occasionally have their moments:
"Oi, Tufnell. Lend us your brain, we're building an idiot!" |  |
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| Ashes 2023 on 23:23 - Jul 18 with 1718 views | SydneyRs |
| Ashes 2023 on 13:30 - Jul 18 by TheChef |
Especially since the home crowds in Oz are so polite and respectful...
Although do occasionally have their moments:
"Oi, Tufnell. Lend us your brain, we're building an idiot!" |
Always loved Mark Waugh's nickname Afghanistan, the forgotten Waugh 😄.
Also Waugh once told someone playing for England, can't recall who, he wasn't good enough to be there. The response was "at least I'm the best player in my family". | | | |
| Ashes 2023 on 04:58 - Jul 19 with 1673 views | swisscottage |
| Ashes 2023 on 13:15 - Jul 18 by Rs_Holy |
looking at the forecast I reckon we will have to beat the Aussies in 3 days :( [Post edited 18 Jul 2023 13:18]
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Doesn't look good does it. Saturday will be a washout it looks like, and quite possibly Sunday.
With the bad weather on the last two days, there's no possibility of extending subsequent day's play for a few extra overs either.
With the weather looking the same today/tomorrow, if England win the toss, I would expect them to bat first and come out blazing to get a total to put the Aussies in an hour before the close. [Post edited 19 Jul 2023 5:01]
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| Ashes 2023 on 07:09 - Jul 19 with 1619 views | Hunterhoop |
| Ashes 2023 on 04:58 - Jul 19 by swisscottage |
Doesn't look good does it. Saturday will be a washout it looks like, and quite possibly Sunday.
With the bad weather on the last two days, there's no possibility of extending subsequent day's play for a few extra overs either.
With the weather looking the same today/tomorrow, if England win the toss, I would expect them to bat first and come out blazing to get a total to put the Aussies in an hour before the close. [Post edited 19 Jul 2023 5:01]
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Surely, Surely, Eng have to bowl first?! If there is only 3 days of play you have to give yourselves the best chance of taking 20 wickets. You can’t win a test match without doing this. So you have to bowl first and hope to bowl them out cheaply. Then go past their score, bowl them out again, and chase what you can.
If England bat first. Even if they bat quickly, they take a day out of the game. Then it’s all about if Aus make the follow on. If they do, the game is over. England might do something funky and forfeit their second innings to try to get to time to bowl them out, but it’s unlikely if there are still over 2 days left in the Test even if the weather is rubbish.
I cannot see any way you can win with the weather forecast batting first. |  | | |
| Ashes 2023 on 08:56 - Jul 19 with 1560 views | Hooparoo |
| Ashes 2023 on 07:09 - Jul 19 by Hunterhoop |
Surely, Surely, Eng have to bowl first?! If there is only 3 days of play you have to give yourselves the best chance of taking 20 wickets. You can’t win a test match without doing this. So you have to bowl first and hope to bowl them out cheaply. Then go past their score, bowl them out again, and chase what you can.
If England bat first. Even if they bat quickly, they take a day out of the game. Then it’s all about if Aus make the follow on. If they do, the game is over. England might do something funky and forfeit their second innings to try to get to time to bowl them out, but it’s unlikely if there are still over 2 days left in the Test even if the weather is rubbish.
I cannot see any way you can win with the weather forecast batting first. |
Nah. If Aussies win the toss they’ll bat first and try to crack on to 400+ in 3-4 sessions then unleash the quicks. | |
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| Ashes 2023 on 09:04 - Jul 19 with 1545 views | CamberleyR |
| Ashes 2023 on 23:23 - Jul 18 by SydneyRs |
Always loved Mark Waugh's nickname Afghanistan, the forgotten Waugh 😄.
Also Waugh once told someone playing for England, can't recall who, he wasn't good enough to be there. The response was "at least I'm the best player in my family". |
It was fast bowler Jimmy Ormond. Top sledge that. |  |
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| Ashes 2023 on 09:28 - Jul 19 with 1507 views | Hunterhoop |
| Ashes 2023 on 08:56 - Jul 19 by Hooparoo |
Nah. If Aussies win the toss they’ll bat first and try to crack on to 400+ in 3-4 sessions then unleash the quicks. |
If Aus win the toss and bat first, they are stupid.
The fact they have picked no spinner and an extra batting allrounder makes me pretty sure they’ll bowl first. | | | |
| Ashes 2023 on 09:37 - Jul 19 with 1488 views | BlackCrowe |
| Ashes 2023 on 09:28 - Jul 19 by Hunterhoop |
If Aus win the toss and bat first, they are stupid.
The fact they have picked no spinner and an extra batting allrounder makes me pretty sure they’ll bowl first. |
Agree with this. If there's going to be c.3 days of play due to rain delays then we need Oz to bat first and try and get them out cheapish in the first innings to stand any chance of winning. Australia don't need to win to retain the Ashes. |  |
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| Ashes 2023 on 10:20 - Jul 19 with 1427 views | swisscottage |
| Ashes 2023 on 07:09 - Jul 19 by Hunterhoop |
Surely, Surely, Eng have to bowl first?! If there is only 3 days of play you have to give yourselves the best chance of taking 20 wickets. You can’t win a test match without doing this. So you have to bowl first and hope to bowl them out cheaply. Then go past their score, bowl them out again, and chase what you can.
If England bat first. Even if they bat quickly, they take a day out of the game. Then it’s all about if Aus make the follow on. If they do, the game is over. England might do something funky and forfeit their second innings to try to get to time to bowl them out, but it’s unlikely if there are still over 2 days left in the Test even if the weather is rubbish.
I cannot see any way you can win with the weather forecast batting first. |
yes you are right, I was just thinking England hope to post 400 in 2 -1/2 sessions and knock of 4 Aussie wickets in the evening session .. but you are right without knowing whether there would be any play on day 4 or 5, even if England did Bowl the Aussies out cheaply in the first innings, they'd run a significant risk of setting an inadequate last innings total if they played for 3 days play only.
This quote from Trescothick today, implies they'd bowls first if they win the toss:
"I've seen a bit of a pitch report and I think it'll be a pitch with good pace as we go along. But it might do a little bit more today, so that that might play into whoever wins the toss might want, and it might depend on the weather."
Also from BBC meteorologist.. is basically noone can predict what Sunday's weather will be yet.
"Saturday could potentially be a washout as a deepening low pressure system looks set to bring widespread rain and strengthening winds.
"The difficult bit for us forecasters right now is what then happens then for the final day on Sunday. Whilst there is a chance that rain will linger over Old Trafford, there’s low to moderate chance that it could’ve slipped further south, allowing more play." [Post edited 19 Jul 2023 10:22]
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| Ashes 2023 on 10:24 - Jul 19 with 1420 views | Hooparoo |
| Ashes 2023 on 09:28 - Jul 19 by Hunterhoop |
If Aus win the toss and bat first, they are stupid.
The fact they have picked no spinner and an extra batting allrounder makes me pretty sure they’ll bowl first. |
Travis Head bowls off spin and Smith started his career as a leg spinner. Spin doesn’t win you matches in England fast seam and swing bowlers do. And all this talk of Australia only need a draw, we always play to win not draw. [Post edited 19 Jul 2023 10:25]
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| Ashes 2023 on 10:33 - Jul 19 with 1394 views | Hunterhoop |
There we go. England win the toss and bowl. As they had to.
And Pat Cummins admits they’d have bowled too. | | | |
| Ashes 2023 on 10:33 - Jul 19 with 1393 views | Rangersw12 |
| Ashes 2023 on 10:24 - Jul 19 by Hooparoo |
Travis Head bowls off spin and Smith started his career as a leg spinner. Spin doesn’t win you matches in England fast seam and swing bowlers do. And all this talk of Australia only need a draw, we always play to win not draw. [Post edited 19 Jul 2023 10:25]
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Whilst picking a team that is clearly chosen to draw the game
Old Trafford always spins so not picking a proper spinner is ridiculous and is obviously a defensive move
So much for this always play to win nonsense from the runts of the commonwealth | | | |
| Ashes 2023 on 10:46 - Jul 19 with 1363 views | Hooparoo |
| Ashes 2023 on 10:33 - Jul 19 by Rangersw12 |
Whilst picking a team that is clearly chosen to draw the game
Old Trafford always spins so not picking a proper spinner is ridiculous and is obviously a defensive move
So much for this always play to win nonsense from the runts of the commonwealth |
And people who resort to insults have already lost any credibility. Keep it civil mate, remember we’re all here because we’re all Rs. | |
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| Ashes 2023 on 10:59 - Jul 19 with 1333 views | Rangersw12 |
| Ashes 2023 on 10:46 - Jul 19 by Hooparoo |
And people who resort to insults have already lost any credibility. Keep it civil mate, remember we’re all here because we’re all Rs. |
Ah bless
I thought it was us who were supposed to be the whinging ones.... | | | |
| Ashes 2023 on 17:05 - Jul 19 with 1201 views | Monkey_Roots |
What a catch! |  | | |
| Ashes 2023 on 17:06 - Jul 19 with 1197 views | w7r |
Excellent catch - Bairstow's partial redemption for previous cock-ups. [Post edited 19 Jul 2023 17:09]
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| Ashes 2023 on 17:19 - Jul 19 with 1168 views | terryb |
Am I right in thinking that Stuart Broad now has 600 test wickets? | | | |
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